Final-round report

Ko Jin-young won the Evian Championship by two strokes in France on Sunday, cementing her reputation as a player for big occasions with her second major victory of the year.

The South Korean seized control with a 15-foot birdie at the penultimate hole, where she perfectly read a sharply-breaking putt at the Evian Resort in Evian-les-Bains. She made par at the last before letting out a big smile, raising her arms in celebration and hurling her ball into the gallery.

Ko finished at 15-under 269, less than four months after claiming her maiden major title at the ANA Inspiration in the California desert. There are five official majors in women’s golf.

Ko came from four strokes behind the overnight leader, fellow Korean Kim Hyo-joo, whose hopes disappeared with a triple-bogey at the par-three 14th, where her ball plugged in a greenside bunker.

“Last night I thought if I play a really good (final round) I can win,” Ko said before being presented with the trophy by American skier Lindsey Vonn.

Kim (73), China’s Shanshan Feng (68) and American Jennifer Kupcho (66) tied for second on 13-under.

With her fifth LPGA Tour victory in less than two years, Ko, 24, is projected to reclaim her world number one ranking. There is no secret to Ko’s success other than a flawless swing and a consistency others can only dream of. Apart from her three LPGA wins this year, Ko has also finished runner-up three times, and has never been outside the top 30.

“She plays a mistake-proof game,” said Hall of Fame member Judy Rankin during the Golf Channel telecast.

The same said could not be said of overnight leader Kim, who butchered the 14th after finding her ball almost buried in a bunker. She took a hack at the ball, which almost made it on the green, only to roll back down into the bunker, and into one of her large footprints.

It was a happier day for Kupcho, who turned pro in May after winning the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship. “I came into the day not expecting to win so to play the way I did, especially on a Sunday, as new as I am out here, it’s pretty exciting,” Kupcho said.

Sunday’s round was delayed by heavy rain, and the final group did not finish until after 7.30 pm local time. The final group crawled around the back nine in two hours and 47 minutes, but at least they finished, saving the tournament from spilling into Monday.The Evian was the first of back-to-back majors, ahead of the Women’s British Open that will start at Woburn on Thursday. Reuters

And so Ko Jin-young adds the Evian to this year’s ANA Inspiration. Her second major of the season was richly deserved, that silky swing standing up to scrutiny when the pressure was cranked up on the back nine. You have to have some sympathy for Kim Hyo-joo, her tee shot plugging right up against the face of the bunker on 14, leading to a triple-bogey punishment that was all out of whack with the crime. Even so, she was always second-best to Ko today. The right woman won. A word of praise too for Shanshan Feng, who shot four sub-70 rounds this week, and Jennifer Kupcho, the US prospect following up her Augusta National amateur win with a second-place finish in a major as a pro. Congratulations to Ko Jin-young, commiserations to Kim Hyo-joo, and thanks to everyone for reading. Hope to see you next week for all four days of the British Open!

Ko has been made to wait quite a while. Park wedges out to five feet. Ko then gets her chance to putt. She rolls her birdie effort four feet past. Kim knocks her birdie putt in for a 73. She’s -13 and will have a share of second place. She’ll be ruing that tee shot on 14. Park then sends her par putt three feet past. Bogey, a miserable 75, and she ends the week at -10, tied for sixth. The fiasco of the 18th hole was her round in microcosm.

A farcical end to Park’s round. She’s squatting on a rock in the middle of the flower bed, wondering what the situation with a loose impediment is. She’s allowed to move it without penalty. Then she bashes out of the flowers, Caddyshack style, over the green and into the deep rough on the other side. Not bad given she was still balancing on that rock.

Ko does what she needs to do. A wedge into the heart of the green from 100 yards. She’s not particularly close, 30 feet away perhaps, but then she’ll have three putts for victory! Kim, the pressure off, wedges to six feet.

Ko and Kim lay up with their second shots. Park Sung-hyun decides to go for it, taking out the fairway wood, and sends a huge slice into the flower arrangement to the right of the green. That might even have bounced a little further, in which case it’s out of bounds. But we’ll see. Either way, it’s a denouement in keeping with her dismal final round.

Up on the green, Inbee Park pars to sign for a very disappointing 73. Like her namesake Sung-hyun, she wasn’t at the races today. She ends the week at -9, yet again tied for eighth, equalling her best finish in this event, a result she achieved in 2015 and 2018. The super grand slam still eludes her.

One of the most important tee shots of Ko Jin-young’s life coming up. She plays it safe with a 3-wood ... and that sensationally smooth swing doesn’t let her down. Down the fairway. Two careful shots to the green, and this is all over! Fine drives by Kim and Park, too, as they realistically look for the final birdies that’ll improve their position.

Feng wedges into the last. It’s decent, nothing more, and she’s left with a 20-footer for a closing birdie. Her putt is a fine effort, gently oscillating this way and that. But it somehow stops on the right lip. It’s a fine 66, and that’s a share of the clubhouse lead with Kupcho. And here’s the thin line between success and failure: back on 17, Ko curls in a left-to-right birdie putt! She’s waving her putter in the sky before the ball drops. A perfect putt, perfectly timed in narrative terms. As Kim and Park par, she walks off to the 18th tee with a two-shot lead.

Ko sends her second at 17 over the flag. She’ll have a look at birdie from 20 feet coming back. That’s decent enough, given the state of play, and she shares a laugh and a joke with her caddie. Kim is just inside her, and really needs to make her putt if she’s to salvage this situation. Park’s approach is down a swale to the left; every time she’s taken a step forward today, she slides straight back.

Feng’s drive at 18 is arrowed down the middle. Exactly what’s required. Back on 16, the leader Ko knocks her tee shot over the flag to 12 feet, but the left-to-right birdie putt’s never dropping. Par for Kim. And birdie for Park Sung-hyun, whose world-number-one-style tee shot lands 12 feet to the right of the flag, kicks left off the bank, and stops three feet from the hole. She’s not quite out of it yet! This final round took quite a while to ignite - blame the incessant rain - but my word what a finish we have here! So many possibilities!

It was a strong finish by Moriya Jutanugarn. Birdies at 16 and 18, the latter reward for a wedge sent to kick-in distance. She signs for a 68 and ends the week at -10. Then eagle for her sister Ariya, coming up behind, and she’s shot 68 as well, finishing a shot better off at -11. Meanwhile on 17, Shanshan Feng isn’t finished: she fizzes her second shot to 15 feet, and guides in the left-to-right curler for birdie! She’s just a shot off the lead at -13, and with the relatively easy par-five 18th to come!

No bounce-back birdie for Kim on 15. She nearly curls in a big right-to-left breaker from the fringe, but par will have to do, and her head drops a little. Park duffs a chip from the side of the green, and then hits the flagstick again with another overcooked wedge. This one doesn’t drop, but the tap-in that’s left limits the damage to bogey. She’s -10. And finally Ko’s birdie putt slips by. Par.

Jennifer Kupcho tidies up for her birdie on 18! That’s three birdies in the last four holes, and he’s one off the lead. A magnificent 66 of carpe-diem brilliance from the Augusta National amateur champion!

Kupcho chips up from the bank. Her ball bounds ten feet past the hole, but stops softly and then is gathered back towards the cup by the camber of the green. She’ll have a five-footer to make that birdie. Though up on 15, Ko takes three careful shots down the middle of the par five, and she’ll have a look at birdie from 12 feet. It might be enough to seal the deal.

Jennifer Kupcho has clearly decided that she’s not going to leave Évian-les-Bains wondering. Out comes the fairway wood at 18. She’s going for it, over the creek. And she only just makes it, the ball snagging on the bank on the other side. That was a yard away from a watery grave. You’ve got to admire her style. Up and down for birdie, and she’ll be signing for her second 66 of the week ... and setting a clubhouse lead of -13. If she can make it, she’ll be posing the leader Ko Jim-young a question.

Kim was two shots clear not very long ago. Now she’s two behind. How on earth will she respond to the dramatic events on 14? Her tee shot back there wasn’t great, but even so, plugging right up against the face was outrageously bad luck. Consider the fortune of Sung-hyun Park, whose tee shot was no better, and whose bunker shot was really travelling. It sounds ridiculous, but it really is a thin line between birdie and triple bogey. Golf, right there, in a nutshell.

Kim putts from the fringe and nearly sinks an outrageous bogey putt, the ball slithering this way and that over a couple of humps. But it rolls six feet past, and she can’t make the one coming back. A triple bogey. Meanwhile Ko lags a wonder putt from 70 feet to kick-in distance. Par, and she’s suddenly two shots in the lead! And if that’s not enough drama, up on 17, Kupcho sends her tee shot down the right, forcing her to go over some trees if she wants to reach the green. A sensational wedge over lands on the fringe, and she rattles in a 25-footer for her fourth birdie of the day! All of a sudden, everything’s changed. Major-championship golf, folks, right here!

Less than half of Kim’s ball is visible. She does extremely well to blast it straight into the air, avoiding the face. But it lands on the bank and topples back in. Adding insult to injury, it lands in her deep footprint. That’s awful luck. But instead of bemoaning her luck, she quickly gets back to work, and splashes out before the situation overwhelms her. It’s a fine escape, though her ball only just reaches the fringe.

Kim’s lie: it’s a horror show. Plugged, right under the lip. Before she can work out what to do, Park - also in the bunker - whips a hot one out. The ball would have flown miles past the flag, perhaps off the other side of the green ... had it not hit the flagstick and dropped into the cup! An outrageous birdie that brings her back to -11. And with Kim in all sorts of bother, she’s no longer out of this!

Ko takes 6-iron on the par-three 14th. Not enough club, though it finds the front of the long, deep green. Kim sends her hybrid into the deep bunker to the right of the dancefloor. Advantage Ko, just about, though much will depend on Kim’s lie.

Ko Jin-young makes a move on 13! She sinks a long right-to-left swinger for a birdie out of nowhere, and the gap is down to one again. Pars for the leader Kim Hyo-joo and Park Sung-hyun. And Jennifer Kupcho gets out of 16 with a par, lagging her long birdie putt to the cup and tidying up.

Kupcho plays the game with a smile. She wedges her tee shot into the heart of the short par-three 16th. The ball screws back violently and nearly topples into the lake, but is held up by the fringe. So nearly a fine shot; so nearly a disaster. But the young American simply laughs casually. Still, that’ll be a tricky two putts for par, up against the fringe.

Jennifer Kupcho is the real deal. She’s had a year to remember already, winning the inaugural Augusta Women’s Amateur title, and turning professional. But now she’s threatening to win her first major in only her eighth start as a pro! Birdie at 15 now, her third of the day, the rest pars. She’s four back at -11, but remember there’s an eagle chance at the 18th. And if the leaders wobble ... well, what a story this would be. Whatever happens, though, she’s announced herself as a real talent.

The start of a late surge by Inbee Park? It’s almost certainly too late, but having birdied 11, she drains a monster right-to-left curler on 13 to move up to -9. Hopes of a first Evian Championship for the seven-time major winner aren’t quite extinguished yet, but she’ll need a superb finish, and hope that Kim Hyo-joo and Ko Young-jin both collapse ignominiously.

Park’s par putt at 12 is never dropping, and there goes yet another shot. The world number one is four over for her round today. Quite a contrast to her first three rounds of 67, 66 and 66. She really doesn’t like wet and cold conditions. Not that her partners do any better on the hole, which is playing as the hardest today. Both miss their par savers, and there’s a bit of backslide at the top of the leaderboard.

Kim’s splash from sand is tentative, and only just creeps over the face and out. Her ball rolls apologetically onto the fringe. Ko clips crisply to eight feet, not good, not bad from where she was, down the bank in tousled nonsense. But Park, just off the side, chunks her chip. She’s left with a 20-footer coming back. The former US Open and PGA winner is way off her game today.

Kim’s second into 12 takes a huge kick left and bounds into a greenside bunker. The door’s ajar for Ko, but her second lands hard on the green and sails long and left. She’s worried it’s gone out of bounds, but it’s OK, in so much as it’s in the filthy rough. Park follows her in. All three with work to do for their pars.

Ariya Jutanugarn has been quite the entertainer around the turn. Birdies at 8 and 9, bogey at 10, birdie at 11, and now bogey at 12. She’s -9. Meanwhile Shanshan Feng, having turned in 32, bogeyed 10 and lipped out for birdie on 11; she’s four back at -12.

Park Sung-hyun can’t say she hasn’t had the breaks today. Her second shot into the trees was abysmal, but her ball rebounds out of the forest and lands in the semi-rough again. And there’s a route into the green. She wedges a delightful third to 12 feet - the cream always rises - but her flat stick is stone cold. Her chance of saving an unlikely par trundles three feet past, then she yips the one coming back. A double-bogey six, and with the leader Kim making her birdie putt - Ko settles for par - the world number-one looks a beaten docket today.

It could be the end of Park Sung-hyun’s bid, too. Her driving has been off all day, and on 11 she sends a big hook into the trees. She gets a member’s bounce back into the semi-rough, but she’s lost a lot of yardage. So out comes too much club. Not enough loft to get over the trees at the side of the gentle dogleg left. She fires her ball low and left, straight into the branches and more trouble. Meanwhile Kim and Ko both wedge their second shots to 12 feet, setting up good looks at birdie. There could be some significant separation at the top soon.

Moriya Jutanugarn’s race is run. A double bogey at 12 after finding herself plugged in a bunker by the green. She slips to -8. She’s alongside Carlota Ciganda, whose consistency in the majors, without reward, is almost Rickie Fowleresque. She’s got the game to become Spain’s first major winner. Perhaps next week at Woburn. But it won’t be today. Still, birdies at 10 and 13 have lifted her up the standings.

Shot of the day, perhaps the entire week, by Ko Jin-young at 10! The reigning ANA champ whips a wedge from 140 yards to a matter of inches, the ball nearly slam-dunking straight into the cup, bouncing a second time right next to the pin, and landing a foot past. She’ll tap that in to move to within a shot of the leader! Ko is the only player in the final group under par. She’s the one who looks like seizing the day, because that was simply sensational! Pars meanwhile for Sung-hyun Park and Kim, and this is becoming very interesting now.

It’s taken the last group two hours and 48 minutes to complete the front nine. The conditions, the threesomes, and the lift, clean and place rules haven’t helped. But it’s been slow nonetheless. An awful lot of time being taken over some very short putts, to no apparent benefit in terms of quality. You have to wonder whether professionals across the board would be better served taking these short ones quickly, without too much thought, like Darren Clarke used to do. Park Sung-hyun’s speed-to-result ratio today has been particularly poor. Brooks Koepka speaks for the HBH report on this topic.

Kim pulls her putt to the left. Par. Ko then prods with great uncertainty at her shorter effort, and it dribbles away to the right. And finally Park tugs her one left. Nobody will be particularly happy with that miserable collection of putts, though in the context of the tournament that’s a huge let-off for the leader Kim, who remains two in front.